League City, Welcome to Special Interests Good Old Boy Politics

Background

On Valentine's Day the council voted 5-3 to endorse a plan for government assisted income-controlled age-restricted projects apartments in the middle of League City.  So much for putting League City first!  The Green Team, and the waffler in chief (Keith Gross) voiced support for the item.  Remember back in the day when Mr. Gross said he would not support any more multi-family units in League City, due to the fact that they create a greater burden on the city than the tax revenue they generate?  Now all of a sudden, he votes to show the city has endorsed one.  So let's look at the reasons that were given in support of this vote by the Democrats Green Team (Hallisey, Dugie, Gripon, and Millican) and Mr. FlipFlop (Gross).  

1.  Supporting the elderly  
2. We can always say no later in planning and zoning and other approvals 
3.  We need to be a city that says yes to getting things done

And the rationale given by the true conservatives left on council (Kinsey, Long, and Becker)

1. The city is already being burned with other multi-family units on costs vs revenue (This facility will be an income-controlled project, so it will result in even lower tax revenue than the latest high-end apartment complexes) and the number of units in the amount of land they’ll be going in is way beyond the number that is viewed as sustainable by the city

Now let’s break these points down.  

Supporting the Elderly

This was feel-good pandering identity politics at it’s finest.  Emperor Hallisey went on a tirade about compassion and the increasing number of elderly folks, but he ALSO stated something that identified his true motive.  This is the Emperor throwing a bone to one of the founding families of League City (he even said as much, then backpedaled saying he would do this for any family).  This is a guy who ran as someone who promised to fight the developers.  This is the Green Team that said they would work to have zoning to create sustainable development in League City.  Now he wants this to be a city that says yes.  You can’t have it both ways.  And if there’s anything disingenuous that was said at tonight’s council meeting, it’s when the Mayor presented this as concern for the elderly and the poor.  So this amounts to enabling a redistribution of wealth and good old boy politics where we play favoritism with the old families of League City.  EXACTLY what this blog warned would happen with the Green Team in power.

We Can Say No Later (Dugie’s “Nugget”)

We know that Mr. Dugie and the rest of the Green Team have no respect for the City Attorney; however, it was fully on display tonight.  The CA made it very clear that if the city wants to resist this development, the time was now, as we will only be able to deny them later for very specific reasons.  I highly doubt that Mr. Dugie didn’t believe the CA, he was simply seeking to stifle argument and insist that he was only trying to move this along and could be decided later, when in reality he knew that the approval tonight is essentially saying yes to this burden on the taxpayers of League City.  But since the Green Team is good old boy liberal identity politics at it’s finest, he’s going to play his role.

We Need to Be a City That Says Yes to Getting Things Done

So now the mayor wants to get things done?  You mean like with downtown revitalization?  Or is it only when it benefits the people who the Mayor likes?  Remember when Mr. Edelman complained about some poorly written article that seemed to say the Economic Development director is playing some sort of picking-and-choosing pet projects, and that the city shouldn’t do this?  Well, now the Green Team is doing JUST that.  How do you feel about your candidates now Mr. Edelman?  Enjoy that victory party!

The Cost Burden vs the Tax Revenue

Todd Kinsey, Nick Long, and Dan Becker have consistently voted the way they said they would – to cut debt and vote for items that would serve to lower our taxes.  Keith Gross said he’d do the same, but he didn’t.  Instead, he voted for the sentimental speech from Mr. Hallisey.  We don’t have the exact numbers just yet, but the planning director said he would try to pull those together showing the break-even cost on services provided vs. taxed value of each rental unit.   The council has, numerous times in the last year, deferred vote on issues to get the facts.  Why wasn’t that suggested for this item?  Oh right, because for the Green Team and Keith “Chicken and Waffles” Gross  wanted to do a favor for one of the “founding families”.  But we’re told this isn’t good-old-boy politics.  Sure.

Summary

I expected votes like this out of the Green Team.  The writing was on the wall when they were campaigning.  They’re Democrats who want a return to the good old boy system, where they take care of them and theirs with no concern for the tax burden for all the homeowners of League City.  All the misguided self-professed conservatives who endorsed the Green Team – get ready, this is just the beginning of what we’re in store for!   I’m sure you Edelmans, Bowens, and Wankowiczes are still going to keep excusing this behavior.  How many more votes like this until you admit you backed the liberals with your unholy Green Team alliance?  But the REAL shame here is on you, Mr. Gross.  I’m not sure what your motivation is, if you’re just turning into a bleeding heart softie, or if you somehow feel the tide has turned in League City so now you’re going to suck up to the Green Team (you know, the ones that backed your opponent the last time you were elected) in hopes of retaining some sort of relevance in Galveston County politics.  Honestly, I hope it’s the former, at the very least you can turn into an honest liberal like Bernie Sanders, because NOBODY loves a waffler.  But I’m guessing it’s the latter.  Hopefully you don’t actually expect this will help you have any sort of a political career once you’re term-limited out of council.  You’ve abandoned the promises you made to the people who actually did vote for you, and there’s no amount of groveling you can do that would make the Green Team back you over one of their people in the future.

Side Notes & Chuckles

Mr. Mallios – Ask me any questions you like, that have nothing to do with my identity.  We’ve already beaten that topic off of Facebook.  You say I won’t answer questions, yet you’re the one who won’t engage in dialogue with me.  Ask away, or are you too busy worrying about who I am to put your two brain cells together to form a question for me.  

Emperor Hallisey – I put the odds at about 2% that someone from TxDOT actually told you that LC shouldn’t consider building a parking garage, because in 5-10 years we’ll all have automated drones and hyperloops.  For one thing, even the eternal optimist and king of over-promise under-deliver Elon Musk claims we’re at least 5 years away from having widespread availability of autonomous cars.  The insurance industry is thinking we’re 15+ years from that.  And the IEEE thinks it’ll be 2040 before 75% of cars will be autonomous.  In other words, I’m not sure which dreamer you talked to in Austin, but I’m guessing your whole story was a fabrication to try and get a dig in on the downtown revitalization plan.